Designing difficulty for a multilingual typing game
How to turn different scripts and input rhythms into one fair difficulty curve.
Word length alone is a poor difficulty measure in a multilingual typing game. Korean syllables, English spelling, and Japanese input can require different actions even when the visible strings look equally long.
Measure input cost, not only time
A useful starting model combines several properties for each word:
difficulty = inputCount × rarity × transitionCostBlend that estimate with real error rates and completion times to account for differences between languages.
Shape a readable speed curve
- Slow down immediately after introducing a new rule.
- Add a short recovery stretch before a boss stage.
- Separate failures caused by speed from failures caused by unfamiliar words.
The goal is not to make every language identical. It is to create a similar sense of focus and accomplishment in each one.